Ford Lowcock Photography

The Klamath: A Photographic Project
by

The Klamath River: Stories Behind the Salmon

• Coho salmon, an endangered species

• Chinook salmon, diminishing numbers

• Political fighting to possibly remove four dams

• Water quality

• Water usage “rights”

• Ancestral/cultural tribal rights and needs

• People’s livelihoods and societal needs for farming, ranching, timber and commercial fishing

• The privileges of personal enjoyment of nature, swimming, rafting and fishing

What connects all of these issues? The Klamath River.

My Book:donation page:ron_fishing.png
The Klamath River stretches some 270 miles from south central Oregon to the north coast of California. For every mile that the water flows there is a need. Every mile is different than the previous and from the one yet to come. With so many differing viewpoints comes potential controversy, conflicts, and finger pointing when “things” change to the worse. What follows is a series of individual stories told through photographs and words, sometimes as a video, on the positive things being done to help the salmon and to keep water quality clean and flowing in the Klamath River.

This body of work documents people who are working to make a positive difference in the Klamath bio-region. All of the stories are real and true. The people featured are telling their own stories, so these are authentic and not of my opinion. Some could be considered positive restorations. Some are about how the salmon are being monitored through data collection and tagging so that changes may be made to increase the numbers returning each year. Some are simply about keeping the salmon alive. All of the stories are from those who are working to preserve water quality, water volume, water usage, impact from resource-based industries, forests and ultimately, the salmon. The salmon are the canaries in the coal mine, so to speak. They are the first to die if something goes wrong with the water. For example, in September 2002 thousands of fish lay dead on the banks of the Klamath River. What made the water go bad? And, was it a symptom of something even greater?

There are several powerful statements that I heard from almost everyone involved in these efforts:

Ask me and I will tell you the truth. Please do not believe that your presumptions are the truth.
All of the areas along the Klamath bio-region are different, yet connected. Each area has special needs that the others may not. Come and speak with those of us who live and work in this area to find out how we differ.
We want and need to have a voice that is actually heard, taken into account and responded to about what goes on in the region – politically, environmentally, culturally and legislatively.

- Here are some stories -

I will be adding stories, so Please check back to see what has been included.

	The Fish – A brief look at the primary character behind these stories – the salmon
	Karuk Tribe – Department of Natural Resources \| Collecting Coho Salmon and Data Follow the men of the department as they work to carefully monitor juvenile coho salmon in the Klamath River and its tributaries. Some the men you will meet are Karuk tribal members. The salmon is the center of how the Karuk are defined. Forest and land management practices are thousands of years old and have been proven accurate by countless generations of Karuk subsistence living in the mid-section of the Klamath River around Orleans and Somes Bar, California. This is where the Salmon and the Klamath rivers become one. At the end of the story you will meet Ron Reed, cultural biologist for the tribe. He will help you understand the importance of the Klamath and the salmon. (http://www.karuk.us/karuk2/departments/natural-resources/dnr)
	Ron Reed – A Passion for Family and Culture Meet Ron Reed and his family. Ron is the cultural biologist for the Karuk Tribe. He is intensely passionate about educating the youth of the tribe about who they are as Karuk people, their ancestral heritage and their birthright in today’s modern world.
	Keith Whipple – 4-minute video Keith and his wife Harrie worked with their daughter Millie and husband Gareth Plank to create a land trust, in part to preserve the natural land without the possibility of further development. This was completed through the Siskiyou Land Trust (http://www.siskiyoulandtrust.org/projects-2/scott-valley-conservation-easements/). Keith, with some help from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Yreka, CA, has planted several thousand riparian along the Scott River to restore some of the growth along its embankment. Keith and Harrie simply love the outdoors, all wildlife and the Scott River.
	Building a Fish Ladder – Etna Creek The city of Etna constructs a fish ladder on Etna Creek which is the city’s water supply source. This story depicts how a fish ladder and a new diversion are added onto an existing dam. The timeframe to complete the project was about six months in length.
	Mike Duguay, Registered Professional Forester Mike talks about how selective logging works, what it does and how it assists the forest in producing healthier trees. Mike takes you to a section of a forest that had been logged about 25 years earlier. He shows and tells what happened afterwards with the new growth and why it’s not good for the land and water.
	Managed Private Forests - Mason, Bruce & Girard, Natural Resource Consultants How do private forest lands operate? Steve Ziegler, senior forester with Mason, Bruce & Girard, gives a brief introduction to how his company oversees and manages 55,000 acres in the Scott Valley. His approach is different than that of Mike Duguay. In this story you will also see a highly mechanized form of logging. (http://www.masonbruce.com/)
	Logging Public Land This story shows a logging crew working a steep ground forest on lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Gene Harth, owner and operator of H&W Logging, and his crew contrast how they log when the terrain will not accommodate any machinery. They apply a more hands-on approach than the mechanized form seen in Steve Ziegler’s story.
	Seedling Nursery – Cal-Forest Nursery, Scott Valley, CA Cal-Forest is the largest reforestation nursery in California. It produces over 12 million tree seedlings per year for private timber companies, small private landowners, and public agencies throughout the western U.S. and Alaska. Cal-Forest also warehouses over 500 million seeds in preparation of growing the seedlings. You will be looking over the tops of 10,000 seedlings all at one time, which is an amazing sight. (http://www.calforest.com/index.html)
	The Pimentel’s – Scott Valley Cattle Ranchers Jack and Carolyn Pimentel have only been in the Scott Valley for 40 years. That may sound like a lot of time, but there are several ranchers whose ancestry stretches back to the 1850s when Fort Jones was a military fort and there were no ranches yet. Along with the 400 acres they own, ranch and farm, they own a lease to graze on public land on the eastern side of the Marble Mountains. You will see mountain meadows, lakes and forests and learn what they mean to the Pimentels and their cattle. You will meet Jack, who’s “just an ol’ cowboy,” and see some of the Pimentel’s personal life on the ranch.
	Salmon River Restoration Council – On a Redd Survey This is a visual experience of what it is like to be on a river survey for redds. A redd is the term used for the place in the bed of the rivers and creeks where the salmon lay their eggs. You will follow Thomas Hotaling, fisheries program coordinator of the Salmon River Restoration Council (SRRC), and Irie Swift on a two-mile water hike down the South Fork of the Salmon River. A redd survey is not always easy, but you’ll be seeing some beautiful land and waterscapes that few people get to see. At the end of the story you will meet Petey Brucker, president and founder of the SRRC, an organization that has been serving California's Salmon River watershed and its community since 1992. And, you will meet Mikey the miner. (http://www.srrc.org/)
	Shasta Valley Wildlife Area – A Place Just for Wildlife This is 4,657 acres where you can come to hunt, fish, take walks, birdwatch, and photograph deer – in short, relax. Mike Farmer shows us around the wildlife area, once a working ranch, but purchased by the State of California in 1991. It is located on the Little Shasta River, which is a tributary of the Klamath River in Montague, California. All the crops grown here are for the wildlife – winged, hoofed or pawed. Mike said that many wildlife photographers come because the wildlife are so well fed, and there are so many of them it’s fairly easy to get a photograph. If you ever go, visit the office. There are about six photo albums to peruse through as evidence. (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/lands/wa/region1/shastavalley.html)
	Shasta River - Fish Weir and Sensor Array, State of California, Department of Fish & Game (CDFG) Mary Olswang, a fisheries biologist with CDFG, explains what a weir is, how it operates and how to take data samples from a wash back. A wash back is a dead salmon that has already spawned and died. The carcass “washes back” downstream from its spawning grounds by the river’s flow. This is a part of the yearly cycle of the salmon. The carcass will be food for some other creature or nutrients for plant life. You will also meet Chris Adams, who educates us on what and how a sensor array works in counting juvenile salmon on Big Spring Creek.
	Iron Gate Hatchery – What happens when the salmon can’t swim any further? Iron Gate is 190 miles from the northern coast of California, where the Klamath River empties into the ocean. The salmon return to spawn the next generation, who will in turn, return 3-5 years from now to spawn their next generation. Iron Gate Dam is the first of five dams that sit on the Klamath River. There is no fish ladder around the dam to allow them to continue swimming up stream. The problem is that we cannot simply allow them to swim to the dam and die. So, there sits a fish hatchery at the base of Iron Gate. The men and women who work here see their jobs as the means of ensuring the life of the salmon continues. Their goal is to rear in the neighborhood of 6 million Chinook, 75,000 Coho and 200,000 steelhead each year. These numbers may change yearly, but their work does not. This is their story on how they attempt to reach those goals.
	Farming in The Upper Klamath Basin – The Story of a Potato Farmer Dick Carleton, a century farmer in Merrill, Oregon is a potato farmer. What’s does a potato farmer in Oregon have to do with coho salmon? The upper Klamath basin is near the headwaters of the Klamath River. Just like everything, potatoes need water to grow. See what it is like to be a potato farmer and learn how Dick and his family deal with water usage in Oregon so that the river downstream doesn’t suffer.
	Ford’s Stuff Forgive me. These are a few photographs that just turn me on! Enjoy ‘em.